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Hero ISL international draft sees buys worth Rs 16 crore

21 Aug, 2014 - 07:35 PM IST | By Herman Gomes | 6433 Reads

MUMBAI: When a sport needs to be grown, money needs to be spent. And in keeping with this, Hero MotoCorp Indian Super League (ISL) saw close to Rs 16 crore being spent on international players who were a part of the draft and were picked by eight teams in seven rounds.

Each team was given the first slot to pick their players as the rounds progressed. The football league will be played from 12 October 2014 to 20 December 2014.

Team Goa proved to be the most generous as it spent Rs 2.46 crore on seven players. Team Chennai (which is the new team introduced in the ISL after Team Bengaluru backed out) shelled Rs 2.34 crore on its seven players. Next in line was Atletico de Kolkata that selected six players for Rs 2.17 crore. Team Mumbai FC picked seven players for Rs 2.10 crore. Kerala Blasters decided to spend Rs 1.98 crore on its seven international players. Pune FC bagged five players for Rs 1.75 crore. Tying at the last spot were teams Delhi Dynamos and North East United that spent Rs 1.62 crore each on their respective five players.

IMG Global football vice president Andy Knee said, “The teams are very happy with the international players they have picked up. We are quite satisfied with the quality of football we have introduced here in India.”

A total of 56 international players, 49 from today’s draft and seven being contracted by the clubs directly, were drafted among the eight ISL clubs. Earlier, in July 2014 the clubs had selected 112 Indian players to complete the domestic players’ mandate. “The 49 players who went into the draft today have had close to 9000 games in between them,” added Knee. “It only speaks about the experience and the competition they will bring into the Hero Indian Super League,” he maintained.

All India Football Federation general secretary Kushal Das said, “Indian football needs a new dose of adrenaline. We are extremely excited and hope the Indian Super League will provide the dose of much-needed visibility to Indian football. The focus at present is on youth development and grassroots which forms the base of the pyramid. But at the same time, the dose of commerce stays quintessential at the top of the pyramid. Both are interlinked to each other,” he stated. “We hope ISL will be the game changer for Indian football,” added Das.

For Football Sports Development CEO Anupam Dutta, the international player draft has marked an important milestone in the Indian football. “A league’s success depends on the clubs and we are happy to have equally excited and committed partners in this journey. And against the backdrop of the international player draft, let’s not forget that we have a very good set of Indian players in the league as well,” he opined.

Star Sports business head Nitin Kukreja commented, “We plan to unleash a sporting revolution in India. It’s not just cricket, we plan to take football, kabaddi and other sports to greater heights too in India.”

Following are the names of the different teams along with their compositions: